A three-dimensional digital neurological atlas of the mustached bat (Pteronotus parnellii)

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 183; pp. 300 - 313
• Main Authors: Washington, Stuart D., Hamaide, Julie, Jeurissen, Ben, van Steenkiste, Gwendolyn, Huysmans, Toon, Sijbers, Jan, Deleye, Steven, Kanwal, Jagmeet S., De Groof, Geert, Liang, Sayuan, Van Audekerke, Johan, Wenstrup, Jeffrey J., Van der Linden, Annemie, Radtke-Schuller, Susanne, Verhoye, Marleen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-12-2018; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Acoustics; Animals; Atlases as Topic; Auditory Cortex - anatomy & histology; Auditory Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Bats; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain Stem - anatomy & histology; Brain Stem - diagnostic imaging; Chiroptera - anatomy & histology; Cochlea; Cochlear nuclei; Cortex (auditory); Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods; Echolocation; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Inferior colliculus; Information processing; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Medial geniculate body; Medical imaging; Microinjection; Nervous system; Neuroimaging; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Pteronotus parnellii; Skull - anatomy & histology; Skull - diagnostic imaging; Species; Telencephalon; Thalamus; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.08.013

Substantial knowledge of auditory processing within mammalian nervous systems emerged from neurophysiological studies of the mustached bat (Pteronotus parnellii). This highly social and vocal species retrieves precise information about the velocity and range of its targets through echolocation. Such high acoustic processing demands were likely the evolutionary pressures driving the over-development at peripheral (cochlea), metencephalic (cochlear nucleus), mesencephalic (inferior colliculus), diencephalic (medial geniculate body of the thalamus), and telencephalic (auditory cortex) auditory processing levels in this species. Auditory researchers stand to benefit from a three dimensional brain atlas of this species, due to its considerable contribution to auditory neuroscience. Our MRI-based atlas was generated from 2 sets of image data of an ex-vivo male mustached bat's brain: a detailed 3D-T2-weighted-RARE scan [(59 × 63 x 85) μm3] and track density images based on super resolution diffusion tensor images [(78) μm3] reconstructed from a set of low resolution diffusion weighted images using Super-Resolution-Reconstruction (SRR). By surface-rendering these delineations and extrapolating from cortical landmarks and data from previous studies, we generated overlays that estimate the locations of classic functional subregions within mustached bat auditory cortex. This atlas is freely available from our website and can simplify future electrophysiological, microinjection, and neuroimaging studies in this and related species.
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•No 3D brain atlases exist for the mustached bat, a popular auditory system model.•We obtained MRIs and X-rays of a mustached bat’s brain and skull.•We used tractography and anatomical MRI to delineate 40 bat brain structures.•We delineated areas of bat fore-, mid-, and hindbrain, including most of the auditory brainstem.•We overlaid the bat’s classic auditory cortex map over a 3D rendering of its brain.